Well, I used to think O'Halloran would move up quickly but then he broke his leg at Imola as a wildcard and I have no idea if he ever recovers from this setback. Also what was the year that C.Iddon looked like he will run away with the BSB title but thanks to the stupid playoffs he didn't? I mean these playoffs are even worse than Chase in NASCAR. What is the damn point of it anyway?

07.04.1968 - Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again? 01.05.1994 - We'll never forget...

Couldn't help but notice Rins leaned into the corners a lot less than Marquez for most of the race. I'd read about Dovi apparently doing that in Austria to have more at the end which enabled him to dive under Marquez at the end and have grip to pull it off. Rins did the same thing today.

Couldn't help but notice Rins leaned into the corners a lot less than Marquez for most of the race. I'd read about Dovi apparently doing that in Austria to have more at the end which enabled him to dive under Marquez at the end and have grip to pull it off. Rins did the same thing today.

Noticed that too, Rins looked way more "old school", like Doohan or Schwantz rode, than anyone else I've seen lately.

***Some say you should live each day like it was your last... but who wants to live each day in wild panic and extreme death anxiety?

The universe, look at the hugeness of it... it is a dizzying thought that little ol' me is the centre of it all!***

Couldn't help but notice Rins leaned into the corners a lot less than Marquez for most of the race. I'd read about Dovi apparently doing that in Austria to have more at the end which enabled him to dive under Marquez at the end and have grip to pull it off. Rins did the same thing today.

Noticed that too, Rins looked way more "old school", like Doohan or Schwantz rode, than anyone else I've seen lately.

Sylvain Guintoli compared Rins with Schwantz as well earlier this season. I love watching Rins ride a bike, it looks almost sublime, unlike the aggressive hell-bent-for-leather style of Marquez. Rins spoke a bit about his riding style here: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opin ... e-lex-rins

Yeah, it seems like Petrucci has completely lost the fire once he signed the 2020 deal. It was said he's devastated after the death of Luca Semprini before the Brno race and he had a bad weekend there but Austria & Silverstone just continue the trend for whatever reason.

07.04.1968 - Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again? 01.05.1994 - We'll never forget...

Draft calendar for 2020 season is out and like reported before, Sachsenring moves to one week before Dutch TT with the new Finnish round taking Sachsenring's old spot. Big move is Thailand moving to March as the second round of the season and Aragon pushed back to October to take Thailand's old spot.

07.04.1968 - Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again? 01.05.1994 - We'll never forget...

Moving Thailand up so much would help with temperatures I assume.If it's anything like here in India, March is atl least bearable humidity and heat-wise compared to the entire rest of the year until around December.

Couldn't help but notice Rins leaned into the corners a lot less than Marquez for most of the race. I'd read about Dovi apparently doing that in Austria to have more at the end which enabled him to dive under Marquez at the end and have grip to pull it off. Rins did the same thing today.

Noticed that too, Rins looked way more "old school", like Doohan or Schwantz rode, than anyone else I've seen lately.

Sylvain Guintoli compared Rins with Schwantz as well earlier this season. I love watching Rins ride a bike, it looks almost sublime, unlike the aggressive hell-bent-for-leather style of Marquez. Rins spoke a bit about his riding style here: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opin ... e-lex-rins

Nice, I love reading these riding style pieces. Then trying to apply them in Ride 3.

What’s interesting about this article is not what Puig says about Lorenzo but what he says about Zarco...

Honda MotoGP team boss Alberto Puig believes Jorge Lorenzo's struggles with the Japanese marque are not down to technique, but a lack of "courage and willingness".

Lorenzo has endured a nightmare first campaign on the RC213V after two seasons as a works Ducati rider, having not scored a top 10 finish this year.

He has also missed four races due to injury, and during his layoff it emerged that Ducati had sounded out the three-time MotoGP champion about a potential return to its fold with the Pramac squad.

In the end Lorenzo decided to honour his two-year deal with Honda, but there still remains a possibility that the Spaniard could walk away at the end of 2019.

"For Jorge it's like starting all over again, but he has to want it, be eager and motivated," Puig told the official MotoGP podcast.

"He has to be willing to take risks and accept that in this sport you can hurt yourself. It's like someone jumping onto the [boxing] ring.

"I don't think Lorenzo's problem is the technique, but courage and willingness.

"We would love to see him going as fast as he was with Yamaha, it would be a dream."

Puig added that Honda has not considered who could replace Lorenzo in the event that the Spaniard does opt to walk away from his contract at the end of the year.

"If he decided to break the contract for the second year, something we don't want, right now Honda is not ready to replace him," he said.

"We haven't thought of any replacements.

"But if that were to be the case, we'd react and we would start looking for an option, even if it's not a wonderful one."

Johann Zarco is a free agent for 2020, having decided to terminate his two-year agreement with KTM one year early, but Puig downplayed the prospect of signing a rider who already rejected the chance to partner Marc Marquez this season.

"We offered the bike to Zarco [for 2019] and he turned it down," said Puig.

"After all that, he came over, apologised and fired his agent [Laurent Fellon] for not having informed me of anything.

"In that sense, he was a gentleman and everything is clear between us. But we are not thinking about him, because our rider is Lorenzo."

I used to think Zarco didn't know there was a Honda contract that's why he accepted the KTM deal. You can't turn something down if you don't know it even exists?

Btw, even if the Honda bike is tailor-made for Marquez, you can't expect anyone to step in and deliver the big results from the onset. And Lorenzo's style makes him like the worst choice for that bike.

Someone like Pol Espargaro would be a good choice for Repsol Honda but it's unlikely KTM lets him go anytime soon.

07.04.1968 - Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again? 01.05.1994 - We'll never forget...

Fellon was Zarco's friend and mentor, trusted with putting the rider on the best path for his career while Zarco did what he needed to do on the track. Fellon's actions after signing Zarco to KTM destroyed both of their credibility and also their relationship. Maybe Zarco should have had more knowledge and control over what his manager was doing, yet on the surface it looks like he was a somewhat innocent victim.

As for the second Honda. Cal Crutchlow would be a suitable temporary candidate. Pol is signed long term to KTM and is doing well. Aleix on the other hand is getting impatient with Aprilia, so perhaps an option for Honda longer term?